Wednesday, June 6, 2012

As Health Records Go Digital, Where They End Up Might Surprise You


Robertson, Jordan. "As Health Records Go Digital, Where They End Up Might Surprise You." Bloomberg, June 5, 2012.

From the article: "Two years ago, Latanya Sweeney created a graphic on the widespread sharing of medical files that shocked lawmakers, technologists and doctors. Sweeney, who founded the Data Privacy Lab at Harvard University, produced a “health data map” that looks like a windshield cracked by a few big rocks. Emanating from them are webs of more than two dozen organizations that could have legitimate access to the file, including transcription services, medical researchers, and even data-mining firms and pharmaceutical companies….Sweeney said there are limitations in tracking the movement of medical data, and many doctors are in the dark about where their patients’ data go. So at the Health Privacy Summit in Washington, D.C., which starts Wednesday, she plans to unveil a new project to harness the collective knowledge of doctors, data-breach victims, whistle-blowers, technology specialists and others to build a new, more comprehensive health data map." Read more

See also
theData Map is a research project of the Data Privacy Lab, Harvard University.